"I am the Director of the Children's Anorectal Physiology Service (CAPS) at the Royal London Hospital and Lead Paediatric Clinical Scientist. My role involves performing specialised diagnostic investigations in children with bowel symptoms including constipation and faecal incontinence. The service has helped over 500 children since its inception in 2016. Our service has helped recognise the importance and support novel work on medical trauma in children with constipation and faecal incontinence and their families. My role goes beyond the diagnostics - it allows me to offer holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to these patients on a day to day basis. My clinical academic role involves research such as national consensus and guidelines and the privilege to work with medical students and post graduate students within the medical school.
As long as I can remember, I have always said that there are three things that make the ideal day: coffee, a cat and a book. I sadly don't have the same amount of time to read like I used to. There are several books that remain close to my heart including Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, To Kill a Mocking Bird and the beloved Jane Austen ( hard to find a favourite). However, here are a few recent books I have read in the last year that I would like to share with you."
Mind that Child - Dr Simon Rowley
Charting his decades of medical experience, Rowley touches on an array of issues, from the high-stakes management of tiny pre-term babies to the serious impacts of drugs, alcohol and technology on developing minds.
Eleni says: "A friend recommended this book. I read it in one sitting. It puts a lot of my thoughts I have about Paediatrics on paper. The author's pathway to appreciating the challenges of medicine was truly inspiring. He gives you a rare glimpse into what it really means to be entrusted with the most precious role - a young human life. He presents real life cases and practical advice which are interwoven throughout a candid and compassionate narrative."
The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz - Jeremy Dronfield
Vienna, 1939.
Nazi police seize Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer and his son, Fritz, and send the pair to Buchenwald in Germany. There began an unimaginable ordeal that saw the pair beaten, starved and forced to build the very concentration camp they were held in.
When Gustav was set to be transferred to Auschwitz, a certain death sentence, his son refused to leave his side. Throughout the horrors they witnessed and the suffering they endured, there was one constant that kept them alive: the love between father and son.
Based on Gustav's secret diary and meticulous archive research, this book tells their incredible story for the first time - a story of courage and survival unparalleled in the history of the Holocaust.
Eleni says: "This book is truly an inspiring story. The connection between father and son breaks your heart. What makes it even more special, is how the author marries the rich history with the personal and true story. It is intense and painful at times, as it takes you on a dark journey and to unimaginable places. If you like history, this is a book for you with a personal touch."
Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.
Eleni says: "What a beautiful story. It took a while to grasp how the book would evolve. At first you get frustrated and melancholic, as you are getting to know the main character. But then as the pages turn, the story unravels, suspense and curiosity awaits and then you don't want it to finish."
A Street Cat Named Bob - James Bowen
The uplifting true story of an unlikely friendship between a man on the streets of Covent Garden and the ginger cat who adopts him and helps him heal his life.
When James Bowen found an injured, ginger street cat curled up in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James was living hand to mouth on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet.
Yet James couldn't resist helping the strikingly intelligent tom cat, whom he quickly christened Bob. He slowly nursed Bob back to health and then sent the cat on his way, imagining he would never see him again. But Bob had other ideas.
Soon the two were inseparable and their diverse, comic and occasionally dangerous adventures would transform both their lives, slowly healing the scars of each other's troubled pasts.
Eleni says: "My cat passed away before Christmas and I think anyone who has lost a pet, will understand their amazing bond. This book really makes you realise how connections come into your life in different ways. I love this book. It really made me sad at times, but also made me realise how beautiful it is, when you connect with an animal that can bring you so much love - unconditional love."
"The beautiful cat in this picture is Clark who recently passed way - guess he was wondering when a book would be written about him!"
Unorthodox - Deborah Feldman
As a member of the strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, Deborah Feldman grew up under a code of relentlessly enforced customs governing everything from what she could wear and to whom she could speak to what she was allowed to read. Yet in spite of her repressive upbringing, Deborah grew into an independent-minded young woman whose stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott helped her to imagine an alternative way of life among the skyscrapers of Manhattan.
Eleni says: "This book was so raw, intense and beautifully captured the main character's journey. The themes of feminism, act of marriage, society expectations and self-identity are there and it really draws you in."
The Angel and the Cad - Geraldine Roberts
At the age of sixteen, Catherine Tylney Long became the wealthiest heiress in England, and the public found their 'angel'. Witty, wealthy and beautiful, Catherine was the most eligible of young ladies and was courted by royalty but, ignoring the warnings of her closest confidantes, she married for love. Her choice of husband was the charming but feckless dandy William Wellesley Pole, nephew of the Duke of Wellington.
The pair excited the public's interest on an unprecedented scale with gossip columns reporting every detail of their magnificent home in Wanstead, where they hosted glittering royal fetes, dinners and parties. But their happiness was short-lived; just a decade later William had frittered away Catherine's inheritance and the couple were forced to flee into exile. As they travelled across Europe, they became embroiled in a series of scandals that shocked the public and culminated in a landmark court case.
Meticulously researched and rich with dazzling detail, The Angel and the Cad is a tale of love and betrayal that twists and turns until the final page.
Eleni says: "This book is extra special and I recently finished this. The author Geraldine, lives in East London and attained an MA with distinction from Queen Mary University of London. This book is fantastic. It is an easy read and not overly complicated and the main reason for this I think, is for the reader to really grasp the main characters' journey of love, marriage, society expectations, wealth and pain. It is set over a gestation of more than a decade and a time where being female was almost impossible to imagine, with today's opportunities and knowledge."